The Caller: Extended Ending
by Support Checkered
Summary: Shadowfell Series: The Caller. Neryn x Flint. Will spoil the ending if you haven't read it yet. Filling in where the book just didn't give enough!


Extended ending of The Caller, picking up during the scene where Flint and Neryn arrive on the isles with the Hag before the handfasting ceremony. Because the book just wasn't enough for me...

 **quote from the book:**

 _He put his arms around me, holding me close. He murmured something against my hair, perhaps "I'm sorry."_

 _"We should sleep," I said. "Everything may seem clearer with the dawn."_

 _So we slept, wrapped in each other's arms just like last time, but even more chastely, for both of us were so tired we fell asleep almost as soon as we lay down._

I awoke before Flint, and before the light of day. The fire in the hearth had died to red glows of the coal but I felt warm against him. I didn't move, keeping my head down against his chest, savoring the feel of the rise and fall of his steady breathing. The words spoken between us the night before weighing heavily on my shoulders.

"Neryn, are you awake?" he whispered softly, his finger sweeping a stray lock of honey-colored hair from my face.

"Mm."

He kissed my forehead before shifting out from underneath me, both of us sitting next to each other, the blanket pooling over our laps. He lifted his hand to cup my cheek, his thumb wiped away a stray tear.

"I love you," he said softly.

"I love you too." Simple word could never do my heart justice.

"When I hear you say that..." He cringed as if he thought what he said next would hurt him. "You are more than I will ever deserve."

I pressed my own hand over his against my face. "Flint, don't you see? You are more than I deserve, a man who put everyone and everything above his own wants and needs, his own well-being even. Such a selfless man surely I do not deserve."

I barely finished speaking when his lips covered mine in a hungry kiss. He pulled away quickly, too quickly, then let out a slow, heart-breaking sigh. "I've been so selfish, you are all I've wanted for so long, there were times when I would haven given up the cause for you, if I had thought you needed it, I put all this in jeopardy for you on more than one occasion."

I wrapped my hands behind his neck, careful to avoid his wounds, and pulled his head toward mine until our foreheads touched.

"But you held fast, you stayed strong and true, you wouldn't even allow me to see you the night before Midsummer in case anyone found out what I really was, and because of your sacrifices we succeeded, my love, we've earned this."

"My heart…" he whispered, his warm breath tickling my cheeks, sending chills down my spin. "Neryn?"

"Mm?"

He asked his question without words, instead kissing my lips, my check, slowly moving along my jawline until he reached my neck, carefully pausing between each kiss, allowing me time to pull away.

But I didn't pull away, instead the desire grew within me until I've been pushed past my breaking point. I took his hands and placed them where he had not yet dared to venture.

I breathed his name as he accepted my offer, and he whispered mine back. His hands worked over my body, my dress long forgotten in a heap next to his own clothes on the floor beside us. Neither of us held back, each discovering the other in our entirety, picking up where we left off on that night so long ago.

After we finished, a new form of peace fell between us, the kind of peace that whispers the joys of new beginnings and the promise of more to follow. His arms held me tight against him, my back to his chest. Not a scrap of cloth between us, his bare skin felt hot against me, but I couldn't bear to move. He squeezed my hand, his thumb rubbing up and down in a soothing motion.

"Ready?" he asked, a new hint of cheer that I had never heard before underlined his voice.

"Are you sure?" I asked, his worries from the night before vivid in my heart. "We can ask Herself for more time before the handfasting, I can wait until you're ready.."

I couldn't get enough of the sweet sound of his laughter. His arms pulling me even closer to him. He spoke in a rough whisper, "I don't think I can wait, Neryn, not anymore."

My cheeks flushed with a smile, I kissed him once more before busying myself with the seemingly monumental task of redressing. He offered to help me to button the back of my dress, a task I had always managed on my own before, his fingers lingering longer on my bare skin than necessary. After an unusually long time, we finished dressing and left the cottage hand in hand.

The light of the new dawn glowed off into the east, bringing with it the promise of our future together, a future I hardly dared hope would be possible just a few days before. Flint still had a long period of healing ahead of him, we all did, but today was an important day for the two of us to start that journey together.


End file.
